


Rikkaidai's Newest Regular

by FantasySky731



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 14:05:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8627413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FantasySky731/pseuds/FantasySky731
Summary: ❝I glanced out of the sleek black car as it neared Rikkaidai Fuzoku Chuu....❞A/N: Pairings? Yes. *Smirks*«Disclaimers inside»«No U-17 yet»





	1. The New Beginning....In Rikkaidai

**Ryoma's POV:**

I glanced out of the sleek black car as it neared Rikkai Dai Fuzoku Chuu. The gates to the famous school loomed before me, just like the very gates of hell. I softened my eyes as I remembered the pain and hurt I've gone through. I practically went to hell and back. 

"Sir," my driver interrupted my thoughts, "it's almost time for tennis practice to start. I suggest you go in now if you want to watch them."

I gave him my typical cocky smirk and muttered a 'Mada mada dane' before stepping out. The warm spring breeze brushed over my soft slender body, and I suddenly craved for the rush of anticipation I have during one of my exciting tennis matches, and the feeling of joy when I performed a successful smash. 

Walking lazily to the registration office, I dropped off my forms and acceptance letter and picked up my uniform, student id, floor plan, and the key to my new dorm room. As I walked to my dorm room, the small sounds of tennis balls caught my attention. Unconsciously, I began to walk in that direction. 

My eyes widened at the sight. A variation of the Kikumaru beam. A black-haired boy was smiling as it bounced on the ground, and flew up to his opponent's face. 

"Take that, Yagyu-sempai!" the black-haired guy said. I watched in interest as the person he called Yagyu just blinked, and offered a small compliment. 

"You're getting better at that, Kirihara-kun," Yagyu said simply. 

_Rikkai Dai_ , I thought.  _Maybe it'll be better than Seigaku. I miss my senpais, and even if I hated Kikumaru's hugs, I still miss him. And Tezuka-Buchou......_

Even though I wasn't on the tennis team, I still went near the fence that surrounds the court, though it attracted me a lot of unwanted attention. Not caring, I continued to observe the boy named Kirihara. I missed the days where Tezuka would give me a brotherly smile at me when no one's looking, and offer me the same compliments that Yagyu said to Kirihara. Or when Fuji-sempai would wrap his arms around my shoulders, and whisper me blackmail on Momo. Or when Oishi-sempai would be like a mother to me, and be all worried when I get an injury from over practising. 

They were all crying when they heard about my condition--well, Tezuka-buchou was biting his lip--that I was temporarily mute and paralysed just before the Kanto Finals against Rikkai Dai due to a childhood disease resurfacing and promised that at least one of them would visit me every day and would bring me the medal of the Nationals. But Fuji lost to Yukimura, and he was so sad and angry at himself when he told me the news. I only smiled, and hugged him, reassuring him with a note with words scribbled on it that it was OK, and I was happy that we even made it into the National Finals. I never even saw they again, after my medical treatment was transferred to the US.   

I suppose those days are over, as the only reason I transferred here to Rikkai Dai was because my mom had to stay in the US for some business work, and my dad was going to some here with me, but then, my mom had an ultra important scandal case involving CEOs, numerous celebrities and possibly even world leaders that would last at least a year. She was busy 24/7, so he had to stay there with her. And my cousin stayed in the US because of a scholarship to a very prestigious university. Only Rikkai Dai and Hyotei had dorms, and there was no way I'd go to school with that stuck up snob named Atobe, so Rikkai Dai was my only choice left if I want to be in a good tennis team and stay in Japan. I loved Seigaku to pieces, and in a way, I'm kind of betraying them, but..........................I sighed. I don't know why I'm here. The US was fine....But being in Japan again was refreshing. I bit my lip. 

Why did I chose Rikkaidai again?

I gazed as Kirihara was hugged by a red-headed teen who reminded me of Kikumaru. His teammates loved him and treated him as the team baby, just as how I was Seigaku's. _I'm sure everyone forgot about me,_ I thought. _I was the rookie prodigy, but it's been 3 years, no? I'm merely a new student, now._  Burning tears were threatening to spill when a soft voice broke in. 

"Are you OK?" he asked. I whipped my head around, nearly breaking my neck.

"Who the heck are you? And I'm perfectly fine!" I challenged, my arrogance surfacing. Suddenly, the whole court goes silent.

The bluenette had an amused glint in his soft, yet powerful violet eyes, and he cocked his head.

"Seiichi Yukimura, captain of this tennis team," he said with an angelic smile. My golden orbs widened as I recognised his name. My eyes shined with challenge and I replaced my annoyance with my trademark smirk. 

"So you're Yukimura," I breathed. Yukimura smiled, before speaking.

"Hmm. So you've heard of me. You didn't need to yell, by the way. Just telling me you're OK is all that's needed," Yukimura said softly. "Are you interested in the tennis team?"

I gave him a sideways glance, before narrowing my eyes and raised an eyebrow.

"So you're not even going to ask for my name? You do know I'm a stranger, right?" I questioned. Yukimura blinked, before laughing. 

"You're such a brat, you know that?" Yukimura said with a small, but genuine smile. I rolled my eyes.

"I've been called worst. My name's Ryoma Echizen, and you're actually letting a first-year student join?" I said. 

"Why wouldn't I? After all, I was a first year when I joined. It really doesn't matter all that much to me. I find you interesting. Do you want a match with Genichiro?" Yukimura said. Murmurs began to break out, and people started to point at me. 

* * *

  


No one's POV:

_Ryoma Echizen, huh?_  Yukimura thought suspiciously to himself,  _That sounds strangely familiar...Hmm...  
_

* * *

  
  
 

**_DISCLAIMER:_ **

Hi, fellow fanfiction readers!

If you happen to stumble upon this story, happy reading! This was my first story/fanfic, and I tried my best! No hate, please! Just a few disclaimers (That goes for the whole book-or ebook) and whatnot after this sentence! ;D

Disclaimer: I 100% absolutely DO NOT own any images or GIFs or Videos in this story, unless I said so otherwise. I also DO NOT own ANY characters in the anime, unless it's one of these OC(s)-which I own 100% and I will update my list according to progression in story line:

**Sora Amori**

**Kano Akimoto**

**Kasumi Hirano**

**Shun Ibi**

**Etsuko Fuwa**

**Hikari Nozara**

**Rina Akimoto**

**Isamu Akimoto**

Note: if any other OCs, anime characters, book characters etc. have the same names as well, it was not intended and was purely coincidental.

And, I DO NOT own any setting in this story, unless I said so otherwise.

I own only the storyline/plot and my OCs. Anything else belongs to their respectful owners.

Thank you for understanding.

If you happen to find any plot holes or grammatically wrong sentences, please tell me in the comments or through direct messaging. Same thing goes for if you found anything that's wrong with the tennis moves. I'm basing their tennis moves off of the anime and not the manga. However, I also invented some moves, so please bear that in mind.

And if you have any questions, comment, please.

Vote if you like the story! I also love comments!

Sayonara! And have a good day/night/noon/morning/afternoon/etc!

~ FantasySky731     


	2. The Match

**Ryoma's POV:**

My brain perked up at that familiar name, before realizing that it was the opponent I would have faced in the Kanto Finals.

Before I could answer, another closed eyes guy walked to Yukimura.

"Seiichi, are you sure you want Echizen to face Sanada? It would be bad, you know," he said.

"I'm still here, people," I muttered under my breath. Grabbing my favorite red racket, I slugged it over my shoulder, and replied.

"Why not. I've been wanting to play tennis since I woke up anyways. And I do want to become a regular here, after all," I said over my shoulder. Bystanders gasped, and soon, as I walked to the other side of the court, the area surrounding it was filled with students, with the space around Yukimura and the closed eyes dude empty, of-course. Yukimura seemed more scary than Tezuka.

Sanada, the person who's my opponent, looked at me, and tossed me the ball.

"Serve," he said shortly, stoic. I raised my eyebrows at his similarity to Tezuka-Buchou, and performed my signature shot, the Twist Serve. It bounced violently on the other side, but still, Sanada Fukubuchou returned it easily. _I will be so exhausted after this,_ I thought, _even if I don't pass the half-way mark..._

And that's when the "light speed" rally started. Let's just say, that my 3-year private training in the US paid off. Not only has no one got a single point, it has been 15 minutes already. Finally, I performed a variation of the cyclone smash, dubbed the Tornado Spin, and took a point.

"Is that the best you can do, Sanada-sempai?" I tried to taunt him, as the umpire called out "15-love". "Is this how you lost in the Kanto Finals to Fuji-sempai too?"

Sanada shot me an icy glare, before tossing the ball up in the air, and smashing it towards me. I merely smirked.

"That serve lost it's glory after Buchou used it in grade 9," I muttered to myself. "Copy-cat."

Sanada looked at me, surprised.

"Seiichi never used that move," he said, puzzled. I widened my eyes, and remembered that the regulars at Rikkai Dai never saw me before. "So what do you mean?"

"Hai, hai! The only other person who know that move is Tezuka-senpai!" Kirihara yelled.

I was glad that my long black hair covered my eyes, because they were panicking. I gritted my teeth at my stupid mistake, and took that time to pull off my new developed move, the Tiger Claw. It arched over the net, touch the ground briefly, and shot back at the net, making a swishing sound. Sanada gave me a death glare, and visibly winced as the umpire person shouted 30-love. Narrowing his eyes, Sanada performed the Forest. I widened my eyes, before smirking and smashing it back.

"Tezuka- _senpai_ taught me how to nullify it," I said with a wide smile. Sanada just said nothing, and hit back, calling out the word Lightning.

My eyes narrowed into dangerous slits when I saw how fast and violent Lightning bounced pass me.

"15-love!"

I breathed a breath of frustration. Tezuka-buchou told me about his annoying Lightning. That was how he lost to Sanada in grade 8 in the National Finals. I wonder how they're doing... Fuji-senpai and Tezuka Buchou were like real brothers to me, unlike that idiot Ryoga. And that's when I remembered Ryoga's Triple Super Duper Electric Shock Explosion. I just call it the Triple Shock. As Sanada did the Lightning again, I tested out the Triple Shock.

But......Unlike what I've predicted, the tennis ball bounced violently, nearly broke my racket, and nearly gave me a bruise.

"Ha! Not so cocky anymore, huh brat?" a gleeful third year said with a sharp laugh. "You put him in his place, fukubouchou! He's only a first year, after all!"

Shouts of approval were heard, and even my most powerful death glare couldn't silence them.

"Shut up!" Kirihara suddenly shouted. Seeing it was a regular that had shouted, silence soon enveloped the irritating crowd. "Don't you remember that Mura—Yukimura Buchou was too only a first year when he became the captain? _And_ won the Nationals? Age doesn't matter, _sempais_!"

I looked at Kirihara in surprise, as did Sanada, though he tried to keep a straight face. Smiling, I picked up the tennis ball, and served again, this time trying to get the timing right.

"Lightning!"

Bounce.

"40-love!"

Cheering.

"Game! 1-0!"

Cheering.

"Game! 2-0!"

Cheering.

Finally, I got the timing down. My eyes were zeroed in on the ball, the irises cool and calculating. _3, 2, 1,_ NOW! As the ball neared my racket, I quickly tapped into my inner energy, and the string of energy lingered in my eyes. Transferring the energy into my arms, hands and racket, it gave an explosion of energy that propelled the racket forward with an impossible amount of force, hitting the tennis ball back at almost the speed of light. Like the tiger claw, the bounced back, except this time, it nearly tore a hole in the net.

"30-love!"  
Groaning.

I looked at Yukimura and gave him my best cocky smile. Yukimura just smiled.

"Ah, Ryo-kun. If you damage the net, you'll have to pay for it." Yukimura said with an angelic smile. Others just sweat dropped.

"Seriously, is Fuji-senpai and Yukimura-buchou related or something?" I muttered under my breath. "Honestly, Rikkai Dai is just a copy of Seigaku."

 

**~After the match~**

"7-6!" Everyone cheered.

I was so tired, I dropped down on the floor of the court and fell asleep, exhausted, knowing I lost. 

 

 **No one POV:**  

Sanada's lungs were burning, and he too, wanted to drop down on the floor and sleep. But as Fukubuchou, he can't do such thing. Instead, he kneelt briefly on the floor and had a long drink of water. After, he walked over, and carried the freshman bridal style to a bench, and dumped a bucket of cold water on him. People laughed.

"NANI?!" Ryoma screamed. Rubbing the water out of his eyes, he looked up, scowled, and started to whine. "Just let me rest!"

Sanada rolled his eyes and tossed him a towel and Rikkai Dai regulars' uniform.

 

**Ryoma's POV:**

"You had to wake up somehow, Echizen. Welcome to tennis team. I'm the Fukubuchou. Now get dressed!" Sanada said shortly. I snorted and promised to defeat him someday.

There was a silence. 

"You know, the point I scored was really just luck. You could have been the one to win," Sanada muttered softly. The cheering stopped immediately. Everyone was shocked.

"Yeah, well that just proved how important you are to the team," I answered back in the same voice. He looked at me, surprised.

"You really are an enigma, Ryoma Echizen," Sanada said, cracking a rare smile. I think some people dropped dead. Shrugging, I stretched, and went to change. 

"Thanks," I said. I was going to say 'buchou', but remembered that he's not Tezuka. Suddenly, in the corner of my eye, I saw a certain red-head running towards me. Due to my past experiences, I had learned how to successfully avoid unwanted glomps. Stepping expertly to the side, I let the red-head nearly crash into a fence post.

"What the freaking hell?!" he said. I rolled my eyes.

"I always get glomped by a certain red-head in my Jr. high freshman years, and I'm not going to get glomped by another certain red-head in my high school freshman years," I snarled under my breath. I started to go out again when another arm pulled me back.

"Bu--" and I cut off when I realised I wasn't in Seigaku. "Fukubuchou?"

He just turned me around to the courts and guided me to the regulars team. 

"We're running low on time. I want you to meet the team."

* * *

 

**Seiichi's POV:**

_Twist serve......._ I thought with narrowed eyes. _Wasn't there a rumour about.....No, that can't be right. But....Just in case......I'll need to check later._ I decided finally _._ Seeing Genichiro walk over with Ryoma, I carefully masked my expressions into a smiling mask. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	3. The Team

**Ryoma's POV:**

I groaned as Sanada dragged me to the famed tennis team. 

"Fukubuchou!" I started to whine. "I just finished a super hard match!!"

"Saa, Ryoma-kun," a soft voice called from behind. Yukimura smiled semi-sweetly at me, and suddenly stared into my golden orbs menacingly. 

"H-hai, Yukimura-buchou," I mumbled, a little scared at the way he's acting. "I'm not tired anymore!"

Running pass Sanada, I grabbed his hand and pulled him.

"Yukimura-buchou is scary!" I murmured. "Let's go!" 

Sanada just blinked. Ignoring him, I ran over to the Rikkai Dai team, and hid behind one of the kinder looking ones. However, Yukimura just looked slightly amused at my reaction.

"Seiichi," Sanada said, rubbing his temples, "You should stop scaring kids."

"I scare kids?" Yukimura said with an "innocent" smile. Sanada just looked away. "Anyways, we really should start the introductions."

"Yo, I'm Bunta Marui, the tensai here," the red-head said, blowing a bubble with his gum. Some just rolled their eyes at him, receiving a frosty glare in return.

"I'm KuwaharaJackal, the doubles partner to Bunta," A person said mildly with a kind smile.

"Masaharu Nio, puri," a silver-haired person said with one eye closed and a pointed smile. I furrowed my eyebrows, and asked if his hair was bleached. All I received was a sadistic looking smirk. I wisely chose to shut up.

"Hello, Echizen-kun. My name is Hiroshi Yagyu," a purple-haired person said politely. _Polite much_ , I thought.

"Mina...I'm Renji Yanagi," a closed eyes teen said. "I want you to answer a few questions...."

I sweatdropped. _What the freaking hell. A total rip off from Inui-sempai,_ I thought. 

"And you must be Kirihara," I said to the last boy, giving a rather lopsided smile. 

"Hai, hai! Name's Akaya Kirihara! And you just nearly defeated one of the three demons of Rikkai Dai!!" He said, energetically. Grabbing my shoulders, he marched me off to the changing room, chattering all the way. "Finally someone younger than me! My sempais can get so annoying sometimes! And you're such a cute chibi! I bet we'll be great friends! How about coming to my house after school! We'll have loads of fun! We can have matches, play video games, and pull pranks together! How about..."

I just sighed in defeat.


	4. School With Kirihara [Mini Arc-Part 1]

**Ryoma's POV:**

_Kirihara senpai!_ I thought, hoping that he'll let go.  Naturally, luck really wasn't with me. 

"So, Ryo-chan," Kirihara said cheerfully, "You got all that?"

I looked at him blankly, before mumbling a weak, 'hai'. Kirihara literally beamed, and continued to ramble in his Kirihara language that no one could understand. Being dragged from hallway to hallway is less than fun, so when I finally spotted a female teacher, an evil plan began cooking in the dark areas in my mind. 

"Sensei! He's raping me!" I screamed, pulling the unsuspecting Kirihara down to the floor. The teacher looked up sharply, and was going to say something to me, when she saw the position we were in. 

"Akaya Kirihara!" she fumed. "Get off of the poor child this instant!"

Kirihara looked shocked, and went red after looking down and saw how we were positioned. 

"Gomen, Echizen-kun, gomen!" Kirihara screeched. "I'm SOOOOO SORRY!!!!"

Needless to say, we attracted a lot of attention. Whispers of suspension floated around, and poor Kirihara's face paled considerably. I felt a little bad doing that to him, but could only smirk at him.

"You brat!" Kirihara muttered to me after seeing the smirk. He was going to tackle me to the floor, when the teacher grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him to the office, talking about detention the whole way. 

Standing up, I looked at my class schedule and grinned. Maybe Rikkai Dai wouldn't be so bad.

"Mada Mada Dane, senpai!"

* * *

**Ryo: Saa......And that's the first time Kirihara and I shared the same school......**


	5. School with Kirihara [Mini Arc-Part 2]

**Ryoma POV:**

I looked at the board, utterly bored. The teacher was rambling on and on about some stupid line segments that I learned in the US, and I was soon nodding off to sleep. 

"Echizen-kun," he called on me. 

I snapped open my eyes, and gave him a glare. I stood up, and snatched the chalk piece out of his hands. The people who rudely wakes me from my sleep are not easily forgiven. Yawning, I drowsily  wrote down what I remembered from my homework and threw the chalk back at the teacher. When I walked back to my seat, I left the class gaping with surprise and shock. Murmurs of a potential math prodigy rose, and I just rolled my eyes at their idiotic nature.  

The math teacher, I forgot what his name was, was standing there, unmoving, but suddenly smiled in a weird creepy way.

"We _FINALLY_ have someone smart...." He said happily. "Your talent will not be a waste."

With that, I was shoved in the class with the second years. But could only smirk when I saw a certain seaweed haired boy. The teacher looked me over and made a quick announcement. 

"We have a new student....Echizen-kun, if you may," she said with a cheerful smile.

"Ah, ok. Hello, everyone, my name is Ryoma Echizen, I'm single and I hope to stay that way," I said, bored. I brightly smiled at the way the girls' eyes dropped in defeat. So! I'm apparently a 2nd year now....?

Kirihara looked up, and groaned. The teacher, seeing that, beamed, and told me to sit beside him. All through class, he was edging away from me, and could only give me a weak smile when I looked at him with fake surprise. 

(Let's skip over science and Japanese class, since I slept through those....)

When it was time for lunch, Kirihara was going to follow me through the doors, when he was grabbed by the Japanese teacher...also the teacher that I called to when I pulled Kirihara down in the hallways......Oh well.

"DETENTION FOR YOU, YOUNG MAN!!" She said, angry. I could only smile. But then I glowered angrily when I heard her next sentence. "Look at that poor girl over there! It was a good thing I caught you, or she might have--"

"Wait, you thought Ryo-chan--I mean, Echizen, was a girl?" Kirihara said, laughing, but quickly changed the words when he saw my intense glare.

I twitched, and stalked out the room, not even bothering to hear what the teacher was going to say to that. 

....And here I thought I would like school.


	6. School With Kirihara [Mini Arc-Part 2.5]

**Ryo: When you put a hyper Kirihara in a lunch room, what do you get? Chaos, of course. Too bad I learned it the hard way....**

 

**Ryoma POV:**

I was annoyed. Very annoyed, in fact. This is the third time I've been mistaken for as a girl(In Japan, at least). I'm not girly! I don't leave my hair long! My facial features aren't even feminine!(A/N: Yes it is, Ryoma-kun ^_^) I went to my locker to get my bento some random fangirl made for me and grabbed some change for my favorite drink--Ponta.

I put the money in the vending machine, and in seconds, the heavenly drink rolled out. But as I was going to have a sip, guess who snatched it out of my hands? (A/N: READ THE TITLE!!) 

" _Kirihara-senpai_..." I growled.  

He could only smirk. 

"What is it, Ryoma- _chan_?" he said, smug. My left eye twitched at his comment, and a tick mark appeared on my head.

"Shut up, senpai!" I said, pissed. But what do Kirihara do? He opens the can and raised it to his mouth. "Don't. You. DARE!"

Kirihara smiled and poured it down his throat instead, not touching his lips. 

"I'm not _that_ cruel." He said while handing it back to me. I bit back a less-than-nice comment and pulled the can out of Kirihara's hands. 

I immediately started to taste the sugary drink and let the cold liquid slide down my throat. As I was enjoying heaven, I didn't notice what my annoying senpai was doing until I was being pulled to the lunch room.

"SENPAI!" I exclaimed. I frowned at Kirihara's lack of response but thought better than commenting on it when I saw that everyone was looking at us.

"Oh?" Yukimura said, amused. "Ryoma-kun, I'm glad you decide to join us."

I was pushed down and ended up sitting next to Sanada. Then I was shoved and my face landed on his lap. Again, everyone went silent at what the stoic teen would do--even Yukimura. 

"Nani..." I groaned. I heard Sanada sigh and helped me up. I'm 99.99% sure a very, very, _VERY_ faint blush spread across his cheeks.

Then he glared fiercely at Kirihara and calmly promised that afternoon practice would be 'the other side of heaven'....So basically "it would be hell". 

Kirihara's eyes became unrealistically large, and his healthy colored face started to lose its color. But it was not because of fukubuchou's not-so-empty threat. As Kirihara started to grin and laugh in a scary way and eyes started to become blood-shot, Yukimura widened his eyes, and he paled.

 

 

"W-who fed him sugar?" 

 


	7. School with Kirihara [Mini Arc-Part 2.75]

**__Ryoma's POV:**

Sanada immediately took some rope that appeared out of no where and lunged at Kirihara.

"Kirihara! Sit down and behave!" Sanada snarled out.

"Fukubuchou!" I exclaimed as he was chasing the very much hyper Kirihara around, knocking over chairs and sent a stream of girls screaming (Um...fangirling over the drama???), his calm and stoic demeanour gone like a flash. Now he just looked enraged and totally annoyed. And perhaps slightly violent?

"Ha ha! Genichirooooooooooo!!! Catch me if you can!" Kirihara teased in a high pitched voice.

Yukimura shot me a look and grabbed my collar.

"Ryo-chan," Yukimura began sweetly, calming down a notch, "did you, hmm, by chance......give him anything _sweet_?"

Sweat began to form on my forehead, before I nervously whispered a reply.

"Ah, you see," I began with a slight stutter, "Kirihara-senpai, um—"

"Spit it out, Ryoooooooo-kunnnnn!" Kirihara said with a psycho looking smile, and running hyper light speed circles around us.

I gave Yukimura a glare.

"Alright, alright. Kirihara-sempai did drink soda, but it wasn't my fault!" I denied ferociously. "I was just minding my own business when he snatched the drink out of my hands!"

"What flavour?"

"Um, grape?"

Yukimura gave a small tsk of understanding and gave me an angelic smile.

"Well, Ryoma," he said, serious, "I understand. However, Kirihara is super hyper with sugar, though he is extremely sensitive to grape flavoured _anything_! I'm afraid you'll have to help Genichiro catch the used-to-be maknae."

"You watch Kpop?" I blurted, kind of ignoring the rest of the sentence. The rest of the lunch room leant in for Yukimura's answer.

Yukimura merely blinked.

"Does that have anything to do with catching Kirihara?" He questioned with raised eyebrows.

Sighing, I snatched 2 pieces of sushi off of Marui's plate and ran to find a cackling Kirihara.

"Kirihara! COME BACK HERE!!!" I screamed.

Nio looked amused and soon joined in on the fun.

"Oh Kiriharaaaaaaaaaaa! Do you want chain mail? Or perhaps 100 laps in tennis?" Nio shrieked while sporting the exact same crazy smile.

"Good try, Nio-senpai!" Kirihara shouted back gleefully, "But you don't get to make that decision!!"

As Kirihara ran around making a mess, the buchou finally had enough.

"But I do!" An enraged Yukimura stalked towards him, a murderous expression on his face.

Kirihara's face paled, though he recovered quickly.

"Haha! Not if you couldn't catch me!"

Yanagi's eyes opened up in slits. Darting his eyes around, Yanagi suddenly shot forward, grabbing Kirihara roughly on the collar and said: "First you drank soda that's full of sugar. Then you disobeyed Genichiro. Then, you moron, you disobeyed Seiichi. I think that qualifies as—"

"1000 laps around the court," Yukimura said, eyes blazing with not exactly anger, but more of sadistic amusement. 

"Mada mada dane, Kirihara-senpai!" I said, laughing at his misfortune. Yanagi quickly gave Kirihara a dose of honey.

Then Kirihara's head cleared, and his eyes came back to normal. And remembered Yukimura buchou's punishment.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 


	8. Interlude of Memories

**Ryoma's POV:**

After the last bell of the day rang, Kirihara immediately banged his head on his desk and sighed. Other students watched with mild interest, especially the girls.

"What is it now, Kirihara-senpai?" I asked, half curious and half annoyed. 

"The 1000 laps, of course!" Kirihara whined. People gaped. Then they thought of lunch and laughed. 

I blinked. Then I gave a kind smile. 

"I'll do some of it with you, if you want," I offered. _Well, only 100, as that's my limit. Any more, and I'll suffer relapse from my disease and playing tennis will be only a dream._ I thought bitterly.

Kirihara looked at me as if I was crazy, and gave me a tight hug. 

"THANK YOU, RYOMA-KUN, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!" Kirihara shrieked. 

I untangled myself from him and rolled my eyes, though slightly surprise when he used my first name.

"We're kind-of-ish best friends, so what did you expect?" I said.

Kirihara responded by grabbing my arm affectionately and pulling me out of the classroom and to the tennis courts.

* * *

 

When we arrived at the tennis courts, the 3rd year regulars were already stretching and doing light warmups. Pulling out my tennis regular attire, I strolled into the almost packed changing room and gave a small growl of distaste. The boys seeing my regular uniform, immediately talking and stared. 

"Ah, Echizen-kun," a pretty looking 2nd year said finally, "The Regular's changing room is down that way."

And he pointed to the door on my right. My eyes travelled up his face, and I have a small gasp of surprise. _Fuji-sempai..._ I thought miserably, trying to memorise the 3rd year's face. His peach coloured hair fell down elegantly on the sides of his head, and his eyes were so similar, only a shade darker than Fuji's. But before I could do anything, Kirihara bounced into the room and started to pull me towards the Regular's changing room.

"Come on, Ryo-kun!" Kirihara whined, "Buchou's being a meanie and I want to actually play a few matches before practice is over!"

"Wait! What's your name?" I quickly asked the 2nd year.

"Sora Amori," Amori answered softly, in a voice that could be easily mistaken for Fuji-sempai's. 

But before I could dwell on it any longer, Kirihara succeeded in pulling me along and Amori-sempai disappeared as the changing room door slammed shut. 

* * *

 

When I changed my clothes, I saw Kirihara waiting for me outside. 

"Oh, arigato, Kirihara-senpai!" I said, grabbing my tennis equipment.

Kirihara flashed a genuine smile and resumed his usual cheerful drag-Echizen-around-because-he's-cute routine. 

"Late, as usual, Akaya-kun," Nio said with a friendlyish-predatory-smirk. "Well, good luck--haha, not--on your 1000 laps!"

I looked at Nio-senpai with widened eyes. _I suppose Kirihara is as close to his teammates like I was to mine....Well, ex-teammates..._ I thought sadly, eyes moistening. Blinking rapidly to try to keep them away, I was annoyed at myself. I wasn't always an emotional person, after all. _But...I wonder how they'll react when the second match in the Regionals come along......They'll probably think I'm a traitor, a rude little brat who's too cocky for his own good and too ignorant of everything._

A lone tear slid down my right cheek, much to my embarrassment. I quickly wiped the tear away, but not quickly enough.

"Echizen-kun?" a familiar soft voice said.

I turned around and saw Amori-senpai in front of me. His beautiful one-shade-darker-than-cerulean eyes were filled with concern and curiosity, and even though I knew he was only worried for me, my heart was shattered bit by bit just by looking at him. He was like Fuji-senpai, yet not. 

 _I have to stop looking at him!_ I thought in panic and frustration. I suddenly thought of the 1000 laps and turned towards Kirihara.

"Hey! Kirihara-senpai! Come on! I'm going to run 100 laps with you!" I said with fake cheerfulness.

Kirihara grinned.

"Ah, call me Akaya! We're best friends, no?" Kiri-no, _Akaya_ said brightly. Ignoring Nio, he walked towards me. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Amori's slightly hurt expression, but forcefully compressed my own feeling of distress. The feeling of Fuji came back, yet the fact that Amori's not Fuji still chips away pieces of my heart. 

"Hai, A-Akaya-kun," I said, a small smile gracing my lips. 

 

 


End file.
